The Lady Programmer

I just signed up with Plurk today. I’m still a bit lost, but I’m still learning. Plurk looks interesting, I love its timeline look!

If you got your Plurk accounts already, add me up. Here’s my link:

http://www.plurk.com/user/ladyprogrammer

I’m sharing my Plurk page – I think that’s supposed to get you signed up and get you signed up as my loyal fan.

http://plurk.com/redeemByURL?from_uid=3229371&check=-726350790&s=1

I haven’t decided yet to put up that Plurk widget in each of my blogs. I want that widget to blend neatly with my account. From my experience in changing blog’s layouts, tweaking layouts takes time. So I just thought I’d put out a blog post that I am also in Plurk too.

Leaving Twitter? Hell no!

I’ve seen some Plurkers submit their plurks in Twitters – uhmm… they could submit the same Tweet or Plurk in Twitter in just one click. I think this has to do with a third-party plugin or website. Well, if you had figured this thing out then let me know – through the comments, or just Twitter or Plurk that out.. hehehe. So far, I only signed up using a Ping.fm account so that I can update all my social networks in a click – or so…

By the way, are you following me already in Twitter? Don’t miss my tweets!

http://twitter.com/ladyprogrammer

I used a bit of Digg, StumbleUpon, BlogCatalog, MyBloglog and other social networks to take a peek on how to use these. I did not get too far with Digg and StumbleUpon.

Digg and StumbleUpon

It seemed to me that Digg and StumbleUpon are two similar sites that let me interact with others. I can promote my sites by simply submitting my own posts to them, but as a rule, these social sites are made for members to submit content of other people.

Both sites are made on the premise to change the way people access information. Unlike search engines, where the most relevant site appears on search results, Digg and StumbleUpon are entirely powered by the votes of the community. The most popular site gets featured at the front page – this post also gains a significant amount of traffic driven to the site.

photo credit: steve.wilson (Flickr)

This is efficient, because I find good content that show up on the front page.

Other impressions and notes from other bloggers that I had seen with Digg and StumbleUpon are:

• There are so many members. Getting popular with both sites may take some time.
• A blog owner keen on promoting his blog should be consistent in using both sites to drive massive traffic.
• Traffic is not consistent. There could be a thousand of visitors in one day and none on the next day.
• Visitors are ad blind. Even if there are thousands of impressions from this site, you might not be able to earn from these because they have the tendency not to click on ads. There are some bloggers who complained that they had not earned a few cents from those thousands of impressions.
• It is a “fake” traffic where one gets to see a site, rates the site if the visitor wants it, then proceeds to view the next site. When I stop using the services, then I get no visitors at all.

BlogCatalog and MyBloglog

BlogCatalog’s strength lies on its community discussions, while MyBloglog’s advantage is on its tag system. I think both sites are great in finding bloggers who can turn into loyal readers of a blog. Participating in BlogCatalog’s community can help in connecting to other bloggers, while in MyBloglog, the generous use of tags greatly helps other bloggers find your blog.

Twitter

I had been using Twitter for quite a while. I find this useful to do mini-blogging, so I don’t get to worry about putting up a new blog post. Even reaching out for help is better in Twitter, because there can be somebody who can answer your concern.

Facebook

Facebook is a more advanced Friendster account to me, but I’m still keeping my Friendster account intact to connect to non-blogger friends. Facebook lets me put in a lot of timely content – Tweets, blog posts, Diggs and StumbleUpon submissions. Most of the content automatically posts out to my Facebook profile, so I get to promote all the other social networks to my friends in the profile.

Everyone is Still Invited

Of course my first impressions may be wrong. I’m still trying to learn a lot from these sites. If you are experienced in any of these social networks, do leave me a tip or two.

It is a first time to hear personalized flash drives – get to Pexagon and REALLY have your name imprinted on a Flash drive. I find this a perfect gadget for gift-giving this coming Halloween celebraion, for handing out to employees with a printed corporate logo or even for personal use.

Making a personalized flash drive is easy. Anyone can just design a simple one in seconds with the use of the site’s online design creator. For a more controlled look, one can just upload a logo or even get to have a CLE or Custom Laser Engraving number approved with Pexagon before the final design is imprinted.

Get one custom thumb drive now for up to 16 GB!

I had posted out too much these past two days. I had been announcing in Twitter lately of that template-tweaking thing. I just decided to venture out into social media.

More Traffic

Why? I had to figure out ways to gain traffic – not only from Entrecard, but from other sources as well – primarily from different social networks.

Just the other day, I was working out my stuff on my StumbleUpon profile. Then yesterday, I got myself Digg-in some articles. I have not touched my Del.ici.ous account, but maybe I will. Oh yes, I have a Facebook account too. Some of you might notice that I had Twittered too much – well, it is really a good platform for me to do micro-blogging without the need to post out something in my blogs. Now with Twhirl installed in my system tray, managing those little tweets get a little better.

I just came back from BlogCatalog – I got hooked with all the discussions going on. It’s like a mini-forum with the IntenseDebate feel.

Don’t forget me to fave me in Technorati. I got a MyBloglog account too.

Leaving Entrecard?

Of all these networks, I plan to be active in Digg and StumbleUpon. I will still doing the daily 600 drops in Entrecard, but I still have no plans of stopping myself from learning new things in blogging.

Everyone is Invited

I am inviting everyone to connect with me in any of these social networks, preferably in Digg and StumbleUpon. If you got your existing profiles already, add me up using those links above or using the BlogCatalog widget below.

What comes into your mind when you hear the words “universal remote”, “media player” and “online backup”?

Most of you would say – hey, there’s nothing new with this stuff. Some tech-savvy individuals would even cite a media player or two that might probably be better than Windows Media Player.

True, you might not be needing to hear news. To the mainstream consumers, knowing the coolest gadgets before you buy is best researched through authority blogs like Gadget Advisor.

The universal remote

When I first heard about this universal remote gadget, I was under the impression that there is nothing new to it. Not until I read that Logitech Harmony Universal Remote Control eliminates all those numerous remote control clutter at home. If you have a DVD player, a TV and a sound system and other gadgets you could end up with a lot of remote controls. Having this universal remote is a good solution to this clutter.

have multiple remotes? eliminate all of these – by Logitech

A good media player

There are a lot of networked media players around, but this DViCo TViX M-6500A Network Media Player one got an internal hard drive that does not need any external power and supports a lot of file formats. It can be connected to a USB port where files can be transferred to and from, plus some slots for USB flash drive for additional playback. This network media player works well on HDTV too – almost.

network media player (on my wishlist) by DViCo

An online backup service

I had been using IDrive for several months. One big thing that I like on this is that I don’t get to babysit on my backups. It had eliminated downtime due to backup maintenance. That downtime can be used for regular blogging duties or freelance work. IDrive simply performs automatic backups which are stored on my 2GB free online account.

I have not tried Mozy Pro and Intronis SureIT and I have not plans of doing backup online with these other two. I am very much happy with using IDrive on my personal home PC.

no babysitting on backup – my IDrive interface

Cutting Through the Cutting Edge

These are just some of the things that you will see in Gadget Advisor. I definitely agree that they had handpicked the best gadgets in the market and made good reviews on it. Do you often wonder which equipment or gadget is the best in the market? Gadget Advisor just might give you a good idea.